Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
to direct the goods towards European Union consumers, are about to do so or are
disguising their commercial intentions.
67
+
With regard to the indications required to be before that authority in order for it to
suspend release of or detain goods within the meaning of Article 6(1) of Regulation
No 3295/94 and Article 9(1) of Regulation No 1383/2003, it is sufficient that there
be material such as to give rise to suspicion. That material may include the fact that
the destination of the goods is not declared whereas the suspensive procedure
requested requires such a declaration, the lack of precise or reliable information as
to the identity or address of the manufacturer or consignor of the goods, a lack of
cooperation with the customs authorities or the discovery of documents or corre-
spondence concerning the goods in question suggesting that there is liable to be a
diversion of those goods to European Union consumers.
68
+
Such a suspicion must, in all cases, be based on the facts of the case. If that suspicion
and the resulting action were capable of being based merely on the abstract
consideration that fraudulent diversion to European Union consumers cannot
necessarily be ruled out, all goods in external transit or customs warehousing could
be detained without the slightest concrete indication of an irregularity. Such a
situation would give rise to a risk that actions of the Member States' customs
authorities would be random and excessive.
69
+
It should be borne in mind, in that regard, that imitations and copies coming from a
non-member State and transported to another non-member State may comply
with the intellectual property provisions in force in each of those States. In the light
of the common commercial policy's main objective, set out in Article 131 EC and
Article 206 TFEU and consisting in the development of world trade through the
progressive abolition of restrictions on trade between States, it is essential that
those goods be able to pass in transit, via the European Union, from one non-
member State to another without that operation being hindered, even by a
temporary detention, by Member States' customs authorities. Precisely such hin-
drance would be created if Regulations No 3295/94 and No 1383/2003 were
interpreted as permitting the detention of goods in transit without the slightest
indication suggesting that they could be fraudulently diverted to European Union
consumers.
70
+
Finally, with regard to goods in respect of which there are suspicions of infringe-
ment of an intellectual property right in the presumed non-member State of
destination, it must be noted that the customs authorities of the Member States
where those goods are in external transit are permitted to cooperate, pursuant to
Article 69 of the TRIPS Agreement, with the customs authorities of that non-
member State with a view to removing those goods from international trade where
appropriate.
71
67
Ibid, at para 60.
68
Ibid, at para 61
69
Ibid, at para 62.
70
Ibid, at para 63.
71
Ibid, at para 65.
